curlew sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea
The curlew sandpiper is a small slender sandpiper about the size of a wrybill, which is also the species it usually associates with at high tide in New Zealand. It is a regular summer visitor to New Zealand, but in declining numbers. The global population is thought to be increasing but the East Asian-Australasian Flyway population is in decline. Probably fewer than 40 birds now reach New Zealand each summer.
Identification
The curlew sandpiper is an elegant, slender sandpiper; its relatively long thin legs (always black), long thin decurved bill and white rump distinguish it from all other small sandpipers. In breeding plumage the curlew sandpiper is dark red with fine white fringes to the body feathers, and the back is grey to black with red spots, contrasting with the white rump. The non-breeding plumage is very plain, with light grey-brown upperparts with fine white fringes to feathers, and mostly white underparts and bold white rump - www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
curlew sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea
The curlew sandpiper is a small slender sandpiper about the size of a wrybill, which is also the species it usually associates with at high tide in New Zealand. It is a regular summer visitor to New Zealand, but in declining numbers. The global population is thought to be increasing but the East Asian-Australasian Flyway population is in decline. Probably fewer than 40 birds now reach New Zealand each summer.
Identification
The curlew sandpiper is an elegant, slender sandpiper; its relatively long thin legs (always black), long thin decurved bill and white rump distinguish it from all other small sandpipers. In breeding plumage the curlew sandpiper is dark red with fine white fringes to the body feathers, and the back is grey to black with red spots, contrasting with the white rump. The non-breeding plumage is very plain, with light grey-brown upperparts with fine white fringes to feathers, and mostly white underparts and bold white rump - www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz